The little Be-ro cookbook.

A few cookbooks have stood the test of time, Mrs. Beeton’s, Elisabeth David ,  Julia Child to name but a few. In fact television show and films have been made about them all and have gone on to introduce them to new generations of cooks a round the world.

All are in there own ways land mark books that have been published over and over again and probably will be for years to come .  But I know of one book as far there is one book that I know that my mother had.  I know that my grandmother had and I know that we have in out cupboard right now. This book I have never seen take a place on the bookshelf or be seen rubbing shoulder with the hard back bound books of knowledge.  Normally like the one in the kitchen right now it is tucked away next to the flour or in a draw.

It is the Be-ro book.  A book that I have known and use all my cooking life and will continue to do so.  In fact, the inspiration for writing this now is that I have just made some biscuits with my youngest daughter and this was the perfect place to start. It is simple and easy to understand. Step by step and easy to follow recipes that I think are so fail poor that any one can follow them , out of a cook book what more do you want.

How it came about was a simple thing , Thomas Bell founded a wholesale grocery firm near the Tyne quays and railway station in Newcastle in the 1880s. one of his best selling brands was 'Bells Royal' baking powder and a self raising flour. But after  the death of Edward VII, it became illegal to use the name Royal and so it was  decided to take the first two letters from the each of the  Be and Ro and that gave us the name 'Be-Ro'.

Now in the 1920s, plain flour was use by most people and newfangled Self raising was nothing but a flash in the pan . You could get  plain flour from the miller and self raising flour was only sold into independent grocers. Why spend the money on a thing like that.

So to make self raising flour more popular and promote it to a new set of customers a  series of exhibitions was chose as the best place to show its quality’s. In the 1920s the exhibitions would go round and you could see freshly baked scones, pastries and cakes.  If you wanted you could buy then and as they proved to be  popular  people wanted to have copies of the recipes so that they could bake the same things at home.

And so the first free recipe book was produced and handed out at the exhibitions as well as door to door.  It was said that “The Be-Ro cookbook contained recipes to feed hungry families on a very low budget.” It soon was considered an essential part of a young woman’s education in running a home and feeding a family. Book of generations

The first Be-Ro cookbook was produced in 1923 and contained a total of 19 pages. And as a nice theme had a  local women from the North featured on the front cover and "Miss Be-Ro" became its trademark.

It is now in its 41^st edition has 86 pages, and is one of the best-selling cookery books with over 38 million copies sold.